Copenhagen, Prague and ?
 

My daughter is studying in Copenhagen and my husband and I are visiting her there at the end of Oct. We are ending our trip in Prague and we cannot decide where to spend a few days in between our visits to these 2 cities. We will have 3 days and we enjoy museums (mostly those that deal with history), walking, people watching, eating and shopping and seeing the sights of a city. Thank you for your suggestions!

If you like museums and history, I would recommend splitting the distance and going to Berlin. It is big and spread out, but there is a lot to see and flights from Copenhagen and onward to Prague should be affordable. And Berlin can be a pretty reasonable city in terms of prices, which will be a nice respite from Copenhagen.

If you prefer a city that is a bit more photogenic, then Munich might fit the bill. Alternatively, you could stick with Eastern Europe and do Budapest.

If you're taking the train from Copenhagen, then it would make sense to stop for a day or two in Hamburg which will make a nice comparison to Copenhagen as both have waterfront ambiance. You'll enjoy Hamburg purely as a rich metropolitan rather than a cultural treasure (just like Copenhagen)
From Hamburg then you can take the ICE train to reach Berlin in 90 minutes. I would strongly recommend Berlin over Budapest especially if you're looking for a city between Copenhagen & Prague.

Agree Berlin would be a great choice. An easy train ride from Berlin to Prague - not sure about Copenhagen to Berlin. I would check bahn.de for info.

Thamk you so much for the suggestions! Your thoughtful responses are truly appreciated.

We'll be glad to give you more detailed info once you decide which cities you'll make a stop at (places to stay. eat, see, etc)

<i>If you're taking the train from Copenhagen</i>

FWIW, unless you are looking to go to Hamburg, I would not take the train to Berlin. The flight is about an hour. The total train journey will be between 7 and 9 hours from Copenhagen to Berlin. To Prague, it is 13 to 20.

Particularly to Berlin, there are numerous flights, and fares are often quite low.

We actually enjoyed the scenic train ride from Copenhagen to Hamburg as we hopped from island to island in southern Denmark by train passing little resort towns. Eventually the train loaded itself onto a huge ferry boat with a restaurant where we all got off to eat &amp; enjoy the view as we crossed the North Sea into Germany. The Danish train staff was replaced by the german staff giving a different flavor. The EC and ICE train takes 4 and a half hour to reach Hamburg and they cost as low as 29 euro per person to Hamburg or 39 eur to Berlin (including a stop in Hamburg up to 48 hour).Check out www.bahn.de. Air Berlin's lowest fares for that time frame is 49-59 euro or higher. We also like the fact that we departed from the downtown Copenhagen station and arrive in downtown Hamburg without having to check in 90 minute before departure and double airport commuting. As far as Hamburg to Berlin it'll only take 90 minutes by ICE train. You get to see a lot more when you take the train vs the plane.

<i>we departed from the downtown Copenhagen station</i>

The subway ride from the Copenhagen airport is roughly 15 minutes. If you are on the Kongens Nytorv side of downtown, then the airport is perhaps even more convenient than the train station, when taking public transportation.

Downtown to Downtown is nice, but the benefit may be less in CPH than in just about any other city in Europe. Certainly, any convenience would be outweighed by the fact that the train ride is 8 hours (out of a 3 day trip). Train travel in Europe can be very convenient. Just not from CPH.

Hamburg/ Lubeck/ Lunebourg can be nice but Berlin is the big draw. Alternatively go past Prague to Vienna or over to Amsterdam(bit of a long journey)

How were you thinking of getting from Copenhagen to Prague? I guess I'm asking to find out whether you want to squeeze in a third place for the sake of it, or whether you are looking for somewhere to break an overland trip, or haven't been able to find direct flights from C to Prague.

Like is the third place a necessity?
How many days were you thinking of spending in Prague?

I agree that Berlin and Hamburg are good suggestions. I would also add Dresden to your list of cities to consider.